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Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Free Crochet Pattern: Marley's Cat Cave (or Bed)

To create this cat cave you need to use a stiff yarn, I used a mix of Caron One Pound and Red Heart Super Saver. You will also need to hold 4 strands together. I wish I had a better option other than holding 4 strands together but there just isn't a stiff bulky yarn out there that I think would do the job. While you are holding your 4 strands together be sure to hold them tightly. If you hold the slack too loose you will end up with small loops within your project. Lastly, make sure your crochet stitches are tight as well!

Skill Level: Easy

Finished Size: 14" wide x 9" high.

This size is ideal for a small to medium size cat, if you have a big fluffy kitty you will want to add more increase rows (you'll also need additional decrease rows at the end).

Supplies:

4 balls of worsted weight yarn in choice of colors, approx. 350 yards for each color.

Hi Schaumburger Masche! I'm afraid sock yarn will be far too thin for the cat cave to hold it's shape. Maybe with multiple strands (even more than what the pattern calls for)? But I can't say for sure. Sorry!

Thanks for letting me know, I was curious about the t-shirt yarn. Good luck weaving in the tubing, my cat cave is currently still standing and is pretty stiff. Maybe starching the finished piece could possibly work?

What a fantastic pattern :) Could it be used for two cats, or would the pattern need tweaking? And would t shirt yarn be thick enough for this bed? Adopting two adult brothers soon and want to make them feel safe Thank you :)

Thanks Bernice! Unfortunately, for 2 adult cats it probably should be tweaked to make it a little larger. Just above your comment someone else said they tried t-shirt yarn with a different cat cave pattern and it didn't work out so well but someone else replied saying maybe carpet yarn would be a good option. I haven't had a chance to try it out though. Good luck with your new kitties!

This is adorable! Could you make it pinable so I can save it to Pinterest for when I'm ready to make it? I have some vintage aunt Lydia rug yarn I want to try. Just have to find where I stashed it, lol...

Hi Molly, I would love to know how the rug yarn turns out! I plan on giving this a try with some diy t-shirt yarn (hopefully soon). I've added a more pinable image, you can find the pinterest button at the bottom of the post on the left. After you click the little P a new page should pop up for Pinterest. I need to work on getting a pinterest hover button, thanks for the reminder ;)

I'm not sure that two strands would make it stiff enough. If you do try it you'll need to use a smaller hook so the cave doesn't end up holey and you'll also need to work additional increase rows because it will turn out much smaller.

I have just made this for my 5 month old kitten. He absolutely loves it, so much so, he crawled into it whilst I was still making it and refused to get out.Only issue I had (apart from hand cramp) was my seam above the hole seems to run diagonally but other than that, looks great. Thank you!